Why Do Dead Whales Explode?

Why does the whale explode ? a good question When a dead whale is stranded on the beach, there is a countdown that activates and if the whale does not act it ends up exploding. What many do not know is the reason for this fact, which to many is sure to be most unpleasant and happens.

Nature sometimes surprises us

We usually see news about whales stranded on the lines. Unfortunately, a good part of them die when they do not manage to return to the water , despite the help of the human being. At present, the reasons for the success of stranding, both massive and individual, continue to be studied.

It can happen because of behavior, when they seek to take refuge on the shore, fleeing from dangers in the open sea. The same could be said with the bad weather conditions. In other cases, sick individuals may separate from the herd and end up stranded on the shore.

These are causes that we could call natural, in addition to other anthropological reasons, because the sound caused by boats in the oceans can create interference to the sonar that the whales have, leading to disorientation and subsequent stranding .

Although the animal dies, a part of its body continues to have life. This is what happens with your digestive system. Both in the stomach and in the intestines, there is a microbial reproduction that is linked to the decomposition of the body that comes to produce gases such as methane or hydrogen sulfide.

As whales become stranded on beaches and end up dying, it seems that are swelling and that ‘s what happens. The corpse is inflated by the gases produced by the body’s own putrefaction .

They are gases that come from the bacterial activity of the natural intestinal flora of the whale. This activity is variable, depending on the class of bacteria that is involved in the process, the cause of the whale’s death and the pre and post-mortem lesions, as well as the kind of food that is between the stomach and the amount thereof. , being affected by the environmental conditions in which the whale is found.

At the moment when the swollen body of a whale undergoes a mechanical stress , such as those produced by a crane when removing a corpse from the beach , the gases and liquids exert pressure against the wall of the body, exploding and expelling all the rotten content.